~*****~

To say Natsu was thrilled when he and Happy met Ballad was an understatement. He burned my couch to a crisp in his excitement. Ballad was less than enthused, which I didn't blame. The poor thing remained in my arms, peering out cautiously before she even introduced herself.

Lucy and I decided to go on a mission over the next few days to show Ballad the ropes. With Natsu, Gray, Erza, and Happy tagging along, the mission went well, and the small cat was opening up around them and enjoying life. That sad look in her eye seemed to disappear over the few days and she seemed extremely happy to be around people.

"Was that an awesome job, or what?" Natsu cheered through his laughter.

"Well, the client sure seemed to think so!" Happy agreed.

"Face it, you guys are just lucky that I decided to come along." Gray commented.

"We're lucky that you begged to come with us?" Natsu scoffed. "How do you figure?"

"Because you were about as helpful as one of Erza's suitcases." Gray snaps.

"You better watch your mouth, or I'll pack you like a suitcase, pal!" Natsu growled as he got into Gray's face.

"That doesn't make any sense." Gray snapped back.

"That's enough, boys!" Erza snapped. "Now please get dressed."

"For crying out loud!" Gray exclaimed as he looked down at himself. "Why does this keep happening to me?!"

"A bit of advice here, Gray, never get in a fight in your underwear," Happy comments.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt your conversation, but..." Lucy trailed off. "When Aria and I took this job, we were originally thinking that we could show Ballad how one of the missions worked, now that she's gonna be Aria's partner and all."

"Yeah, why'd you guys have to come along?" I ask irritably.

"Aw, come on, isn't it obvious?" Natsu asked.

Ballad snorted. "If it were obvious, we wouldn't be asking," She mentioned lightly, her little paws pressing against her face.

"We're Fairy Tail's strongest team, so we got to stick together!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Aye, sir!" Happy shouted.

"And don't you forget it," Gray nodded.

Lucy just beamed. "Yeah, we are!" She chirped.

"No job is too tough, not for me, Happy, Erza, Aria, Ballad, and old droopy drawers here." Natsu continued cheerfully.

"Don't call me that," Gray hummed.

Erza nods. "We are quite a capable bunch."

"True that!" Happy hummed.

"You forgot about me!" Lucy shouted.

I snorted irritably and gazed down at Ballad, who looked just as annoyed. "Lighten up." Natsu laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Loopy!"

"Well, I don't appreciate it. And that's not my name!" Lucy snapped.

"Please forgive me," Erza starts. "I truly didn't mean to upset you. I let myself get carried away. It will not happen again. If you would like, you may strike me now."

"That's okay, I really don't think it's in my best interest." Lucy murmurs.

"Smart move," Everyone comments.

Ballad gave a sharp inhale before turning in my arms and burrowing in my overcoat. "Why is everyone staring at us?" Gray comments as I gaze around.

"It's not the good kind of staring," Happy murmurs.

"Feels like pity," Erza hums.

I peer up and my eyes widen. "What the--" I stop, shunting forward as Gray tumbles into my back. "Why does the guild look like that?"

We all nervously glance at one another before running towards the guild hall. The entire building is wrecked beyond recognition. Metal beams are sticking out everywhere. "No way--" Gray stammers.

"What's happened to it?" Erza asks.

"No, I don't understand," Lucy murmurs.

"Our guild," Natsu breaths, his voice shaking ever so slightly with his emotion. "Someone did this to our guild!" He hisses.

"But who would do such a thing?" Erza questions.

"It was Phantom." Mira's voice rings out. I whirl around.

"Are you serious?" I ask.

"You mean Phantom did this?" Natsu asks in an uncharacteristically angry tone.

"We couldn't do anything to stop them," Mira says softly, her sullen gaze cast on the ground. "They got us good."

~*****~

Ballad gazed around sadly once Mira led us into the basement of the guild hall. Thankfully, it looked like no one was injured. "Yo! What's up, kids?" My head whips towards Makarov and I sigh irritably. He's drunker than a skunk.

"Sorry we weren't here sooner," Erza apologizes.

"Why the heck are you all just sitting around down here?" Natsu shouts.

"How'd it go?" Makarov asks us. "You finish the job like good girls?"

I grimace and pinch the bridge of my nose. "Not to be rude, but that's a creepy way of asking." Ballad comments.

"The job went well." I snap irritably.

"Master, do you understand the gravity of this situation?" Erza asks loudly.

"The guild hall has been completely destroyed." Natsu exclaimed.

"There's no need to get yourselves all worked up. It's not the end of the world or anything." Makarov mentioned in a slur. "It just goes to show you how cowardly those dunderheads in the Phantom Lord guild really are. They struck when no one was here. Is that anything worth bragging about?"

"Nobody was here?" Erza asks.

"It was after everyone had already left for the night." Mira murmurs delicately.

Erza sighs. "I suppose we can be thankful for that. At least no one in our guild was hurt in the attack."

"We shouldn't trouble ourselves worrying about people who don't even have the guts to face us head on. Forget about those fools." Makarov explained.

Ballad lets out a terrified squeal as Natsu slams his fist into a support beam. "Ain't gonna happen, Gramps! We can't just let them trash our place and get away with it!"

"I'm talking about this any longer," Makarov says haughtily. "We'll handle job requests down here until the upstairs is repaired."

"We shouldn't be worrying about jobs right now--"

"Natsu! That's enough out of you!" Makarov shouted. My hips lurched forward a bit as Makarov did not slap Natsu, but instead slapped my butt.

I shook with silent fury as I glared at the old man." And you spanked Aria because..." Lucy trailed off.

"Hands to yourself, master!" Mira scolded as snow began billowing from my overcoat.

"Where're you going, old man!" Natsu shouted as Makarov leapt off his little seat and ran off.

"Ah, keep your dress on, I got to take a leak." Makarov called back.

Natsu grimaced and sighed. "I don't understand why he's being like this," Natsu murmured.

"Listen," Mira starts softly. Ballad peeks out from my overcoat and gazes at her with that sad look in her eye again. "This is just as hard on him as it is on you. He's mad, but conflict between the guilds is strictly forbidden by the council."

"It's not fair!" Natsu shouts. "Those Phantom creeps started it!"

"I know, but that doesn't matter." Mira explains.

"Just let me go!" Natsu complains.

"If the master's decision is to not retaliate, then we must respect it." Erza explains grimly.

I sigh out loudly. "Miss Aria?" Ballad hums, a slight overtone of worry in her voice.

"We're going home." I say to her softly.

Ballad hums and presses her nose into my arms as she sinks deeper into my grasp.

~*****~

Ballad hums in content as I brush through her fur later that night, listening to the soft sounds of crickets outside. I flinch upright when I hear a familiar voice in my house. "Aria, I'm cooking dinner, do you have any requests?" Erza's voice rings out.

I storm out into my living room and shout. "What the hell?!" Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Erza are all sitting in my living room, food laid out on the table with something cooking in the kitchen. "Why the hell are you here?!"

"Since the guild's been attacked, we can assume there are Phantom Lord members in town." Erza comments as she casually stirs what's in the giant pot.

"They've probably found out where everyone in Fairy Tail lives by now," Gray adds.

"Mira thought it would be safer if we holed up together," Lucy says hesitantly. "I mean, you gave me the spare key to your house."

I groan and palm my face. "That makes too much sense," I mention irritably.

"So everyone's having a slumber party right now?" Ballad asks as she sits on the table.

"Yup!" Happy nods as he hands her a fish to chew on. The two cats go to town on it while Erza continues.

"You are an attractive young woman, you know. I wasn't entirely comfortable with you just being here alone with Gray and Natsu." Erza hums. "I felt I could only relax if I stayed here as well."

"It's not time to relax!" Natsu barked.

"So you guys just decided to barge into my home cause you thought I couldn't handle taking these two idiots out if I needed to?" I ask irritably. "Why my place?"

"There sure are a lot of fatty snacks in here, Aria!" Happy mentions as we move into my bedroom.

"Remember to leave some left!" Natsu chirped as he ran towards the cupboard.

"Erza, look at all the frilly panties Aria has!" Happy shouts, moving around the room as if he lived there.

"I can't believe that you'd actually wear something like this, Aria," Erza comments as she roots through my stuff.

"I need to get some shut-eye, so can you try and keep it down?" Gray comments from my bed.

I palm at my face. "At least you're being respectful in my home," I mention to Lucy as she just leans against the table, embarrassed as hell.

"We have a serious problem here," Erza snaps. "You boys' hygiene. I refuse to sleep in a room that reeks of sweat."

"I don't want to take a bath right now," Natsu comments irritably, still stuffing his mouth of my secret stash of snacks.

"But I already got into bed." Gray complains.

Erza beams as she grasps their shoulders. "Come on, boys." She says sweetly. "Do we have to take a bath together like we did when we were kids?"

"What kind of relationship do you guys have?!" Lucy exclaimed.

"They're the strongest team!" Happy and Ballad chant.

"More like the strangest team!" Lucy retorts.

I snort and begin to laugh. "Man, you guys are a riot!" I laugh hysterically. "This sleepover thing is starting to sound like fun, huh, Ballad?"

She raises her paw and chants and agreement.

~*****~

I heaved a soft sigh as I leaned against the headboard of my bed, cradling Ballad against me. "So do you have any idea why Phantom Lord attacked us out of the blue like that?" I ask Erza once she's in her pajamas.

She hums as she sits on the bed. "I'm afraid not. We have had our fair share of scuffles with them in the past, but never anything on this sort of magnitude before." Erza explains.

"If Gramps wasn't so scared of them, we could wipe out those punks once and for all." Natsu comments as he plops onto the bed and curls into my lap, as if I invited him to do so. Ballad and I grimace at him.

"Since when were you awake?" She questions irritably.

"Come on, you know master isn't afraid of them, Natsu." Gray snaps from my desk. "You seem to be forgetting he's one of the ten wizard saints."

"Would you stop going through my shit?" I ask irritably. "It's bad enough you're stripping in my hosue again."

"Everyone keeps saying you got a hoard of jewels, I just wanna see it!" Gray complains.

"No, because everyone else doesn't care about it!" I snap at him. "Besides, it's not like you need it, we go on plenty of missions to compensate any jewel you need!"

Lucy just chuckles. "So, what's with these ten wizard saints, anyway?" Lucy asks.

"It's an honor bestowed by the magic council," Erza explains. I scoff at the mention. "An extremely coveted title shared by the ten most powerful wizards on the continent."

"Really?" Lucy says in awe.

"Phantom Lord's master Jose, is one of them, too," Happy explains.

Natsu sits up immediately. "He is afraid!" He snaps. "He's scared that Phantom has too many members for us to handle!"

"Could you please not be so loud?" I ask irritably.

"That is not true, and you know it!" Gray snaps. "It's just like Master and Mira said before. The consequences of us going to war with Phantom are nowhere near worth the fight."

"He's got a point, Natsu," I explain lightly. "No one was hurt. There's no reason to fight back. You've got to think of the order of the magical world, not to mention the innocents that might be hurt during a counterattack." I sigh irritably.

"But I don't understand, are they that powerful?" Lucy asks.

"They ain't got nothing on us. We could take those clowns," Natsu hums.

"No, if we were to engage them in battle, neither guild would survive," Erza says. "They're strength equals ours. Phantoms Master, Jose, is also one of the Ten Wizard Saints. Which means he's on par with Makarov. They also have an elite group of wizards similar to our S-Class known as the Element Four. However, their biggest threat may be Black Steel Gajeel. I believe that he's most likely the one behind the Guild Hall's destruction. He's known as the Iron Dragon Slayer."

My gaze flickered to her Erza, my brows twitching for a moment at the prospect of another Dragon Slayer. "He's a Dragon Slayer, too?!" Lucy exclaimed. "I thought Natsu and Aria were the only ones!" Natsu scoffs. "So if he's the Iron Dragon Slayer, does that mean he eats Iron?"

I scoff lightly. "Freak." I comment dryly.